Where's Rufus?

In addition to working with schools and other groups, this Summer I'll be out and about as Rufus Aelius Victor at a number of public events.

15/16 June - The Roman's are Back! - This time at Lanercost Tea Rooms, The Deja Crew will be helping to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Hadrian's Wall National Trail.  There'll be Storytelling with Shamus, Herbs with Muriel, Potter Gaius Bellicus, Nest the Weaver, Sulwyn making Jewellery and of course Rufus Aelius Victor

29 June - Arbeia Roman Fort - Victor the Veteran will be running a 'Roman Boot Camp' for new recruits - more details will follow, when I've worked out what that is!

27 July - Chilton Village Gala - There'll be a Roman encampment with Roma Antiqua and some of The Deja Crew, we'll be doing Roman Crafts

15-18 August - Maryport Roman Festival - The Roman's are Back!  It's The Deja Crew again, this time we'll not only be at Senhouse Roman Museum, but we'll be out and about in Maryport.  There'll be Storytelling with Shamus, Herbs with Muriel, Potter Gaius Bellicus, Nest the Weaver, Sulwyn making Jewellery and me, Rufus Aelius Victor
More details will follow.

8/9 September -The Roman's are Back!  This time around the village of Ravenglass, The Deja Crew will be helping to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Hadrian's Wall National Trail.  There'll be Storytelling with Shamus, Herbs with Muriel, Potter Gaius Bellicus, Nest the Weaver, Sulwyn making Jewellery and of course, Rufus Aelius Victor.

Looks like it's going to be a busy Summer, I'll post the details as they happen.  Hope the Sol Invictus is kind to us

Slaving away...

Back to being a Rufus the Slave, my Master Gaius Bellicus is away along Hadrian's Wall at Cilurnum.  So I've been left here at Arbeia, with the moulds and a huge order to fill.  There's a bit of the flux going round so the votives of bowels are just flying out the door!

from Slave to Evocatus...

... in one weekend!

On Sunday I was Rufus, a slave to Bellicus the Master Potter at Coria (Corbridge).  Gosh it was cold, I did wish my Master could have issued bracae to go with the thin linen tunic, the locals wear them, why shouldn't I.  Still slaves can't choose to follow fashion.

The next day back to being Rufus Aelius, Evocatus and Signaller for the beacon lighting celbration at Arbeia Roman Fort, much warmer!

Didn't get a photo (it was dark), but here's the link   http://www.enews-twmuseums.info/microsite/flyer.php?nid=674 

Campaign! Make an Impact - What's Next?

The funding for Campaign! Make an Impact is just about over and in the current climate it will be difficult to gain more, so I thought it time to mention some of the Outcomes and Impacts from the last year.

The Story
We started with 3 groups along Hadrian's Wall, 2 primary schools, from Newcastle and Carlisle and a group of home educated childrenfrom across the North East. They did such good work that Jan Mears, Study Support Officer from North Tyneside Council felt the project should get bigger. We attracted a further 9 schools from Tyneside. This work enable another 2 schools from Cumbria to join in. Discovery Museum began to run workshops based on the English Civil War and their 'Seige and Storm' exhibition.


The Outcomes

• Regional Network to continue to the work.
• 14 schools involved with 4 more working with Discovery. Discovery are intending to carry on offering Campaign-in-a-Day workshops.
• 9 museums or other heritage sites involved, Tullie House, Arbeia, South Shields Museum and Art Gallery, Segedunum Roman Fort, Blyth Battery, Stephenson Railway Museum, Newcastle University Special Collections, Woodhorn, and Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums Outreach Team.
• Regional Conference, 16th February at Discovery Museum attended by 45 educators and professionals from across the region. Around 100 children involve in the project came in the afternoon and listened to presentation from 6 school groups.
• 2 schools will travel to the British Museum as a reward for their hard work.
• Resources on the North Tyneside Learning Platform and planned resources for Hadrian's Wall and on REALM (Resources for Exploring Archive, Libraries and Museums in the North East).

The Impacts

We are only Year 3, but We can Make a Difference - Primary School
presentation.

I'll add some more quotes soon

Campaign! Make an Impact

Campaign! Make an Impact is an innovative project that uses the Past to teach Active citizenship in the 21st Century.

I am involved in a pilot project to use the 3 step model developed by the British Library (see www.bl.uk/campaign) along Hadrian's Wall World Heritage Site.

Things are moving along, we have 2 groups on Tyneside who began by looking at a campaign from 1870's South Shields. It had been known for many years that a Roman 'Station' lay buried beneath the farmland on 'the Lawe', but in 1875 the building of houses began. Robert Blair, a local solicitor and member of the Society of Antiquarians of Newcastle upon Tyne, gathered support and ran a campaign to excavate and preserve as much of the fort as possible. Blair kept scrapbooks, with letters and newspaper cuttings describing what happened. Eventually the Town Council designated a part of the fort as the 'People's Roman Remains Park' , saving the site to later become Arbeia Roman Fort.

Using this resource the groups have now decided on campaigns that they will run. I'm hoping to post updates on these and the work of the 3 groups at the Cumbrian end of the Wall in a separate blog -http://campaignmakeanimpact.blogspot.com/- so watch that space.